Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and account-linked cards are useful for performing several banking transactions and inquiries. Account-linked cards have become commonplace, as many individuals use account-linked cards such as those for access to membership club accounts, rewards accounts, gyms, parking facilities, secured buildings, accounts at banking institutions, accounts for mass transportation and other types of accounts. Account-linked cards are frequently used with card readers or devices equipped with card readers, some of which require the account holder to insert the account-linked card containing information on a magnetic strip or embedded memory into the card reader. After the card has been read and authenticated, the account holder may be able to carry out a variety of transactions or inquiries.
The traditional manner of initiating a transaction or inquiry using an ATM is to insert an account-linked card into a card reader, thereby allowing the card reader to receive information associated with a user's account from the card. In some instances, the card remains inserted in the reader, or the ATM retains possession of the card, until the user has completed a transaction. At that point, the user may be responsible for retrieving the card, or the ATM may present the card for the user to take. In some instances, the user may forget to retrieve the card from the card reader and may leave the area without the card. In that situation, some card readers are configured to ingest or swallow the account-linked card so that once the customer has left the area of the card reader, the account-linked card is no longer accessible to prevent persons other than the account holder from obtaining the card.
When a card is ingested, this may cause significant inconvenience to the account holder. If a card reader has ingested a user's account-linked card, the user will no longer be able to use the account-linked card to access their accounts at the card reader or execute transactions using the card. Frequently, the user's only option for obtaining a working account-linked card is to call the institution that issued the account-linked card, cancel the account-linked card, and order a replacement card to be sent through the mail. This process can be time consuming and leave the customer without sufficient access to their accounts.
This processes may also be costly to the institution that issued the account-linked card. The issuing institution must bear the cost of creating and shipping a replacement card for the user if the user is to resume utilizing the account-linked card. The institution also misses the opportunity to collect fees associated with any transactions the user is unable to perform during the period the use is without an account-linked card.
By applying automated, computer-based interpretation and/or analysis of visual information obtained with a camera, a card-reader device may be able to determine if a user has left or is about to leave an ATM, point of sale (POS), or card reader without retrieving an account-linked card. Automated interpretation of video data may be known as computer vision.
What is needed is an ATM, point of sale (POS), or card reader device which utilizes computer vision techniques to determine if a user has left or is about to leave an area without retrieving an account-linked card and notifies the user, reminding the user to take his card. This saves the user the inconvenience of going without an account-linked card until it is replaced and also saves the issuing institution the costs of creating and shipping a replacement card.